


New Car Smell

by therapychicken



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: (kind of...?), Communication, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Love, M/M, Patrick gets better at communicating, Patrick's car, Romantic Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, building a life together, marriage talk, special k, the m word is never actually stated, the royal we, the usual, unless by the m word you mean moisturizer (that's mentioned a lot)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:48:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25823887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/therapychicken/pseuds/therapychicken
Summary: "'I guess I just can’t tell whether you were crowned king at some point, because you have this habit of using the royal we? And it can be very confusing to the people you’re talking to, who think it’s just a normal, let’s-do-this-together we?'"Patrick tells David that "we" should go look for a new car; very sensibly, David wants some clarification.
Relationships: Patrick Brewer/David Rose
Comments: 26
Kudos: 204





	New Car Smell

**Author's Note:**

> I've noticed a few "marriage talk" themed fics, which is a genre that I love, so I decided to make my own contribution! According to my stats it also means that I've written 50k words in the fandom, which is pretty fun for me.
> 
> The fic is inspired by a forum I was reading when S5 was airing in which people claimed that it's obvious that Patrick is driving a different car in Grad Night vs The Hike; I have no idea if this is actually true, as I don't have an eye for that kind of thing at all, but ah well, doesn't really matter, just gave me an opening here to write a fic of him buying that new car. (Sadly, judging by Patrick's Season 6 car trouble, I have to assume that he ends up buying a lemon.) 
> 
> I also included a tiny nod to one of my favorite, relatively obscure fandots- if you catch it, indicate as such in the comments and I'll love you forever!
> 
> You know how it goes- let me know what you think in the comments and wear a mask and save lives!

“The car is making weird sounds again.”

David had already turned at the sound of the door jingle as Patrick had made his way in, holding a crate of moisturizers from his vendor pickup. He always makes a point of looking at Patrick when he’s holding things, his sleeves rolled up, his muscles- anyway it’s nice. 

Patrick telling him about his  _ car _ \- that’s just random. David doesn’t know anything about cars. 

“Mhm,” David responds, hopefully not too vaguely. “That’s… rough.” 

Patrick puts the crate down on the counter and leans forward to give David a peck on the lips; David leans forward in turn to meet him, as if by rote. After they pull apart, Patrick sighs. “Bob told me it’s probably on its last days if I don’t replace the engine, but that’s pretty expensive. Then again, the alternative is buying a whole new car, and that’s not cheap either. What do you think?”

What does David  _ think _ ? Used to be that all David knew about cars was how to most efficiently and comfortably fuck in their backseat; he’d taken his driving test in high school and spent the next fifteen years in limos, black cars, and Ubers. Here in Schitt’s Creek he drives a lot more, and a  _ stick  _ at that, which he hadn’t even known was a thing before; still, David is absolutely not the person who any responsible human should be asking for car advice. 

Backseat sex advice… well, Patrick already knows that David is the master in that, and if David’s being honest, the pupil is quickly catching up to the master. Which isn’t what David should be thinking about right now, but before he can stop himself he blurts out, “a new car with a bigger backseat is probably a good idea; without actually pushing the seat down we don’t have room now to-”

Patrick laughs, a slight blush spreading over his face, and puts his hand over David’s mouth to stop him talking. “The store is open,” he says, chastising. “Anyone could walk in!” 

Patrick then rolls his eyes when David licks his palm chidingly, because David knows that Patrick doesn’t care about being public about this sort of thing quite as much as he says he does, and Patrick knows that David knows; but still, when David peels Patrick’s hand off his face, he figures he should at least attempt to be legitimately helpful. “Um, would your air conditioner still be mostly broken if you replaced the engine…?” he offers. 

“Actually, yeah, that’s a good point. Even if I replace the engine I’ll still be stuck with a broken AC and squeaky windshield wipers and a trunk door that doesn’t fully close. I’ll get a quote from Bob on a new engine, but it’s probably not going to be worth the money to drive an expensive engine wrapped in a cheap car that’s falling apart. I think we should go car shopping.”

Patrick is just talking as he works, counting the moisturizers and eyeballing how many of each scent will be going out on the display and how many will go in the backroom; he’s probably not paying attention to the words he’s saying, but David is. He’s frozen, his hands still in the lip balm display where he’d been rearranging, because he’s heard those words before, with “looking for an apartment” instead of “car shopping” at the end but apparently Patrick has some kind of a problem in terms of being clear about his intentions?

David decides to test it out. “We should?” he says as casually as he can muster up, which from inside his head doesn’t feel particularly casually at all, but it must come across decently because all Patrick does as he’s counting out jars is give him a quick “mhm” back. Okay. “I guess I just can’t tell whether you were crowned king at some point, because you have this habit of using the royal we? And it can be very confusing to the people you’re talking to, who think it’s just a normal, let’s-do-this-together we? So I, I just wanted to get a little bit of a clarification on that.”

By the end of that overly long speech David can hear how his voice had gone up about an octave and a half, and now Patrick has turned from his counting and is looking at him. He’s gone a bit red, but not the cute David’s-talking-about-sex red from before; it’s something a little harsher. Patrick obviously knows what’s up here, which is good because it means that David doesn’t have to humiliate himself further explaining. “Look, I’m still sorry about tha-”

“No, no, I know! It’s okay, we’ve talked about it, we’re not living together, that’s fine! I just figured, given my past misunderstandings, I would check-” 

And it is fine. They have talked about it. David’s misconceptions and insecurities should not be the topic of discussion here; just whether… David is expecting to go halfsies on a car? Or something? Actually, he’s a little confused about what’s at stake here, now that he thinks about it. Maybe Patrick wants them to buy the car jointly as a business expense. 

David takes a glance over at Patrick. He still has that harsh red blush spread over his cheeks; his eyes are closed in that way that makes David certain that he’s trying to find the right words for whatever it is he wants to say. David has no idea what it is that he’s going to say, or what the options are. He waits, trying to radiate an aura of zen-like patience on the outside, while on the inside he can’t swear that a horde of rabid, frenetic moths haven’t actually colonized in his stomach. 

Patrick opens his eyes suddenly and smiles. The red patches on his face are fading, and David looks at him, wondering what about this conversation could possibly be making Patrick want to smile like that. It’s an awkward conversation about crossed wires and misinterpretation- surely it can’t-

“David,” Patrick says, still smiling, and in his eyes David can see something nervous in a steady sort of way; like Patrick isn’t sure how David will react but feels like he has to follow through anyway. This doesn’t help David’s blood pressure. “David, I mean the ‘we’ in exactly the same way I did with the apartment. You don’t have to help pay for my car. The car is just going to be for me. But I want you there when I’m shopping for one, just like I wanted you there when I was looking for apartments. Just like, if I’m being honest, I want you there when we go to the supermarket and you convince me that I’m buying the wrong cereal.”

“Okay…?”

“I want the decisions I make to include you in them,” Patrick says quickly and then he gasps, they both gasp, and David gets the idea that maybe Patrick had phrased that a bit differently in his head- or phrased it exactly like that in his head and had intended to soften it when he actually said it. 

Because- that sounds big. It feels big. Honestly, it feels like the feeling that David had had when he’d thought, for those few glorious hours, not only that Patrick wanted him to move in but that it might actually be a good idea. David is struck dumb at the thought, at the sheer want of the feeling, at the fact that he has this want in his very bones, apparently. He wants to be part of Patrick’s decisions, very badly. 

“I mean, the cereal thing, a box of cereal we can finish in three days. If I go grocery shopping without you one day, not the end of the world if I buy the wrong cereal; you’ll come with me the next time and you’ll remind me that dehydrated fruit is not fruit.” 

“Just put real strawberries in your Special K, Patrick, you know it’s better,” David says breathlessly; he didn’t mean to say it breathlessly, he just meant to say it in general, but he is incapable of breathing normally, apparently. 

Patrick laughs. “Just one of a myriad different ways you make my life better, David,” he says with that smile again and now David can smile incredulously back because he thinks he’s finally comprehended the shape of this conversation, and if nothing else it prepares him for it. “So supermarket shopping? Not something I want to do without you, but I can. Buying a car? Something that I want to last for a while? I can’t make that decision by myself anymore, I just can’t, and I don’t want to. I need you to tell me what car isn’t too ugly and what car will give you the most leg room so your long legs don’t have to be all cramped and what car has the best backseat for- you know-”

“Yeppp, I do know,” David says with an amused leer, because Patrick’s got that cute blush again and it will never not completely tickle David that talking about sex with him makes a thirty-two-year-old man so flustered that he blushes. “And I am very happy to go car shopping with you and give you all of my specifications in that regard.” 

“Good, good. That’s- that’s good. But what I’m saying is- this is a car that I plan to have for a while. I plan to have you around for a while. That means that what you think of my car matters. It’s like with the apartment, except more than that because the lease for that one was only ever going to be a year and then- and then we’re going to make another decision together, I think.” Patrick stops again, but this time it’s obvious that he’s prepared himself for what he’s said, and David feels prepared too. 

It’s that feeling again like he’d had about moving in for those glorious hours, like he’s secure. Like how he’d then felt when he’d said “five years from now” and how he’d felt when he’d teased Patrick about running away with Ted and how he felt every day when he knew that no crazy thing he might say, no calling Patrick out when he was annoying, no little thing could ever unmoor them. They are together, and now they’re making decisions together. They’re deciding what car Patrick should buy because he wants David to ride alongside him in it. They’re going to decide together about where Patrick will live at the end of the current lease, because… because wherever that is, David will be living with him there. 

This realization feels both too momentous and not momentous enough, somehow; too momentous because they co-own a business, they make decisions together all the time, and not momentous enough because this  _ is  _ different than co-owning a business, this is David sharing his life, his entire life, with someone, in stages, and now he has to think about what other stages might be coming up afterward. It’s not as scary a thought as he’d figured it might be, actually. It just sounds-

“That- that sounds good, I think,” David says as casually as he possibly can, which isn’t quite as successful as before; Patrick is paying more attention and can see the look in David’s eyes, and David is rewarded by Patrick’s beautiful blossoming grin over his whole face. “When we make the next decision about- about where to live, I hope you’ll take my closet preferences into account a bit more, though.”

“David, knitwear storage capacity will be absolutely at the top of the list of criteria the next time we’re looking for a place,” Patrick says, still grinning broadly. “I know what it takes to keep you around.” He leans forward and they’re kissing, and David hasn’t felt this good, this  _ complete _ , in a while, except for in the small ways that he has basically every day recently. When they break apart, David tries to chase Patrick’s lips with his own mouth, but Patrick is reaching into his pocket for the car keys. “I knew the count of the moisturizers didn’t seem right; Jessica gave me a shopping bag with the extras that didn’t fit in the box and I forgot to bring it in.”

They disengage, David feeling a bit miffed that Patrick is able to keep his head enough while David’s kissing him to think about business, and Patrick yanks the car keys out of his pocket and starts walking toward the door. He turns back to David as he backs up against the door, pushing it open with a ringing of bells. “Just to clarify- this is my car that I’m buying, just mine, but hey, with community property maybe the next one will be half yours, hm?” He smirks in that annoying smug way of his and rushes out the door quickly; there’s a tinge of pink in his cheeks again, the cute, embarrassed kind. David tries to remember what community property is; it can’t be a sex thing, can it…? 

Thirty seconds later he’s staring at his phone screen, reading the definition, face burning. Talk about stages… But he’s smiling, he knows he is, smiling thinking about community property and owning half of Patrick’s car and half of Patrick’s- their- house, maybe? Them having a life that each of them owns half of- but David planning the whole wedding, that’s for sure. 

It’s nice to think about. 


End file.
